1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to predicting real-time sales of food products in a quick-service restaurant.
2. Description of Related Art
Predicting actual sales of a particular food product is a very complex and open problem in the quick-service industry. Conventionally, the future or predicted sale of a food product is approximated from prior sales obtained directly from a point-of-sale (POS) device, such as an electronic order station in a restaurant, e.g., a quick-service restaurant. More specifically, this approximation is accomplished by averaging historical sale information for the food product. While this method has been prevalent for many years in the industry, it has been reported by major quick-service restaurant chains that this method provides a non-optimal estimate of sales.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved method of predicting future demand (sales) of a food product.